Looking Back... Dr. M and His Words

Dr.M is at it again!  He is back!!

On Thursday, 10 of May he has been sworn in as Prime Minister of Malaysia the SECOND time after his shock election victory, 15 years after he stood down!

During my career with The Star, Dr. M and Moi cross path many time..

I remember fondly that I was given a scolding by him when I try to snap a picture of him having his lunch in Alor Setar. The excitement when one crazy guy try to attack him in Kedah and was subdued by his body guards. But my most memorable moment with the oldest Prim Minister in the world was on Thursday August 19, 1982.

Fast rewind to that fateful day... 

I was a young Photo Editor for The Star, waiting patiently for Dr M to come out from his meeting at the Second Army Division at Northam Road in Penang.

Standing beside me were photographers from other "larger" papers, Star was "nothing" to New Straits Time, Malay Mail, Straits Echo, Nanyang, Sin Chew and even Sin Pin and Kwong Wah Yit Poh!

Alas on that fateful day, the other photographers did not notice the Dr M's trademark slogan "Bersih... Cekap... Amanah" (Clean... Efficient... Trustworthy) that were hanging along the corridor!

I knew the shot I wanted and I chooses my lens for the best perspective to bring Dr M and his slogan together. 

The rest, like they said; is history.

This was the front page of the Penang edition of The Star, the next day.

Highland Towers Behind The Lens

This story appeared in The Star, Malaysia on 15 December 2013.

More detail on the tragedy:

Highland Towers Tragedy, 20 Years On

Highland Towers Tragedy, 20 Years On

20 Years ago today, On Dec 11, 1993, Block A of the Highland Towers condominium complex in in Taman Hillview, Ulu Klang, Selangor, Malaysia came crashing down after days of heavy rain, killing 48 people.

Today on the 20th anniversary of the worst construction tragedy in the history of Malaysia, I went and look at my pictures archives of the tragedy again.

 20 years ago, on that faithful day; I was working as a Picture Editor for the Singapore Press Holdings, looking after the photo division of the three Chinese Newspapers.

Life was good, I was head hunted from New Zealand; my boss like me, he approved the latest "toy" that I requested..

SPEAK NOT ILL OF THE DEAD!!

Chin Peng (陳平,Chén Píng), former OBE, (21 October 1924, Setiawan, Perak, Malaysia - 16 September 2013, Bangkok, Thailand^[2]) born Ong Boon Hua (王文華,Wáng Wén Huá) was a long-time leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP).

A determined anti-colonialist, he led the party's guerrilla insurgency in the Malayan Emergency, fighting against British and Commonwealth forces in an attempt to establish an independent communist state.  After the MCP's defeat and subsequent Malayan independence, Chin waged a campaign against Malaya and, after 1963,the new state of Malaysia in an attempt to replace its government with a communist one from exile, until signing a peace accord with the Malaysian government in 1989.   -  Wikipedia
Chin Peng died of old age in Bangkok,Thailand at the age of 88 years old,on September 16, 2013. Ironically,same day as Malaysia Day.

The aftermath, like they say; is history... if you Google "Chin Peng", you will get ELEVEN MILLION HITS... there is however, a write up that I want all of you to read and ponder.

P.G.LIM Passes Away

I only met Wonder Woman P.G.Lim twice, I was then working as a Manager for her brother; Lim Kean Siew, in Penang.

I read and heard about what she has achieved, but alas I am only a photographer; not knowing how to put her achievements in words!

Thanks to my friend and ex-colleague Stephen Tan Ban Cheng for this tribute.

 

They Doctored News Pictures In Malaysia Don't They?

Do they or they do not?

Of course they do, not forgetting photographers have been manipulating pictures since the medium was invented!

Fast rewind to September 9, I read with interest an news item in the Malaysia paper; The New Straits Times which was posted in Face Book...
 

WORK ETHIC: Bernama man denies senator's claim he had doctored photo of PM's Hari Raya open house

PUTRAJAYA: THE photographer who covered the Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and ministers on Aug 19 regrets that his picture has become a subject of dispute by an opposition party senator who alleged it had been doctored.

"Doctoring pictures is not part of my work ethic. In fact, it is not the work ethic of any Bernama staff. The allegation is an insult," said Harry Salzman Abu Bakar, a Bernama photograher.

Photojournalist Attacked @ KL Rally!

It is NOT SAFE being a photojournalist and it is getting worst!  I Google "photojournalist attacked" and got 2,840,000 results!

Photo © Guang Ming Daily

The appalling picture above showed the photographer from Guang Ming Daily in Kuala Lumpur being knocked to the ground by Malaysian police!

WWW On A Plate!

Two years ago I found out the most expensive Malaysian registration number plate, MCA 1 was sold for RM300,000 (NZ$119,168) in 2010!

For those who don't know, in Malaysia the license plate format consists of one or more letters (the first letter(s) serving as a vehicle or location prefix) followed by up to four numerical digits with no leading zeros.

The location prefix start with a letter of the alphabet defining one of its states where the vehicles are registered, for example; cars in Penang island carried plates with prefix "P" and "M" are cars registered in Malacca.

Memory... Canon EOS D2000 in the Rain!

The Canon EOS D2000 (a Canon branded Kodak DCS 520) is a 2-megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera developed by Kodak on a Canon EOS-1N body. It was released in March 1998.

It features a CCD sensor and can shoot at 3.5 frames per second.

Many enthusiasts regard the D2000 as Canon's first truly usable Digital SLR. It was released in tandem with the Canon D6000 (a rebranded Kodak DCS 560), a 6-megapixel model. -Wikipedia


My experience with this RM 70,000 (NZ$ 28,000) digital SLR in Y2K...

Surprised?  Yes, that was how much the camera cost in 1999!!

NOSTALGIA - SPOT (SPORTS) ON!

Nostalgia - a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.

A Redux... larger and sharper pictures :)

My friends asked me if I miss shooting big sports events, I do and I don’t; I do miss all the excitement and the adrenaline rush… I don’t, because physically I cannot handle jobs like this anymore!

I remember fondly that in the 70s and 80s, all you need for covering sporting events were a film based SLR and two lenses, the 35-70 and 80-200 zoom! The relatively “slow speed” of f4 was not a problem because of the classic Kodak Tri-X film which we often “push” processed in D-76 soup and raising the ASA (ISO) film speed to over 3,200!

For football match in dimly lit stadium at night, the standard arsenal was the 180/2.8 and the 105/2.5 lenses.

Those were the good old days when we were forever young, cameras and lenses were compact and light weight and shooting sports were FUN!

Hotshots - A Tribute To Photographers Of The Star

I step into our office at 9 am this morning and our receptionist told me there is a courier pack on my desk!

What can it be? I don't recall I ordered anything from the net.

My heart missed a beat when I remove the content from the pack!

A spanking new, hot off the press copy of Hotshots, a commemorative coffee table book of "40 years of great news images by The Star photographers"!

40 YEARS LATER, ITS ABOUT BLOODY TIME!! I can't help but muttering to myself  ;)

Soul Of Our Nation - Other Communities

ADDING onto the already multi-cultural, multi-ethnic
population of Malaysia are smaller communities scattered throughout the peninsula and in Sabah and Sarawak.

Officially, these groups are classified as Lain-lain or Others.

Although they are only a small minority on their own, the Lain-lain groups collectively form a sizeable portion of Malaysia's almost 21 million people.

In the peninsula, orang asli, Portuguese, Eurasians and Malaysian Thais are just a few of these small communities.

Orang asli are scattered throughout the peninsula, from the Malaysia/Thai border to Johor. Generally categorised as bumiputras, orang asli are divided into three groups - Negritos, Senois and Proto-Malays.

The present population of orang asli is 92,529, according to statistics compiled by the Department of Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA). Of this, 2,972 are Negritos, 49,440 Senois and 40,117 Proto-Malays.

Soul Of Our Nation - Indian Community

INDIAN presence in this region can be divided into two distinct stages both of which involve the exchange of people, goods and philosophies albeit in varying proportions.

The Malay peninsula's initial association with Indian culture dates as far back as the fifth century. These ties were predominantly related with commerce. However, the last 160-odd years, and by far the most significant period of migration, was basically tied in with the export of labour.

While earlier Indian contacts with Malaya were motivated by individual needs,the consequent movement of Indians to this country during the 19th century was to serve the interests of their colonial masters.

The most significant wave that influenced the face of Malaysian Indians till this very day commenced with the influx of manpower in the 1830s, when Indian labour, rumoured to have started with convicts, were brought into the country to work firstly in the sugar and coffee plantations and, later, rubber, tea and, eventually, oil palm.

Soul Of Our Nation - Chinese Community

Majority of Malaysian Chinese are descendants of sojourners who risked the unknown to seek better fortunes in Malaya from the last decades of the 19th
century.

Before this, there had already been a sizable community of
Chinese in Malaya in states like Malacca, Penang and Kelantan.

Many Chinese Peranakan families in these states can trace their ancestors in Malaya back through eight generations. When Ming loyalists fled their country after the Manchu invasion of South China in the mid-17th century, many of them sought refuge in Malacca as there was already a Chinese settlement there.

The opening of Penang in 1786 by Francis Light further attracted large numbers of Chinese traders, many of whom eventually became permanent settlers. From then on, Chinese arriving in the Straits Settlements of Penang and Singapore grew steadily.

From this group, a discernible Chinese Peranakan community was formed as intermarriage or cohabitation between Chinese men and local women occurred.

Soul Of Our Nation - Malay Community

  -->WRITING in The Malays - A Cultural History, the British administrator Richard Winstedt observed: "A faculty that has always made for the Malay's progress has been his power to accept the new and adjust it to the old."

The culture of the Malays has been distinguished mainly by its experience of evolution. The various communities that comprise the Malay race have, through the ages, accommodated themselves to the separate historical and cultural influences that have come its way.

Yet, much of the culture of these communities was also defined by its experience of migration. 

This is especially prominent in the Malay peninsula where Malay communities settled in specific areas which beckoned the nature and characteristics of those particular communities. 

Examples would be the Minangkabau of Negeri Sembilan, the Javanese and Bugis in Johor and Selangor, the Achenese in the northern states of Kedah and Penang, and the indigenous Malay communities of the north-eastern states of Kelantan and Terengganu.

Soul Of Our Nation - The Book

In 1997 I became a Frequent Flyer (NZ-KL) and rejoined The Star, the third time; as their Picture Editor.

That year I was told that the bosses wanted to give something "meaningful" to the guests and VIPs at our annual birthday celebration, they have decided on a pictorial coffee table book depicting the unique multiculturalism of Malaysia.

A picture book that is like a culture melting pot, where each different uniqueness of different race share their cultures and customs; for the whole word to see.

You can't receive a more meaningful souvenir than that!

A project of this size & scope requires much planning and organization. I will have to work closely with scores of reporters and writers and we have to travel to different parts of Malaysia to capture the various events.

It is an honor to be selected for a coffee-table book celebrating the Malaysian heritage!

3½ Months To Renew M'sian Passport In NZ!

Last week, after waiting for THREE AND HALF MONTHS we FINALLY got our "renew" Malaysian passports!

My Kiwi colleague was amused and asked if Malaysia belongs to a THIRD WORLD country!

I remember FIVE years ago, we went through the same angst!

Five years ago I complained to Jeff Ooi and he blogged my pain in his Screen Shot's "Wisma Putra Blues" entry.

"Citizen CY Leow, who has been residing in Kiwiland as a Permanent Resident in order to school his two daughters, never realised renewing his Malaysian passport at the Wellington Malaysian High Commission in the New Zealand capital can be so 'third world'.

He shares his bitter experience.

About time someone brought this up!"  said Jeff and that was five years ago!

Objects of angst!

Tribute - Pioneers of The Star, Malaysia

September 9, The Star (largest in terms of circulation) an English-language, tabloid-format newspaper in Malaysia turned 40.

On that day the paper reprint the first copy of The Star (09-09-1971) and gave to those who attended the anniversary celebration.

You are able to download this historical first issue in PDF format, here.

Within that first issue, The Star also reprint in full; the January 3, 1976; National Launch Supplement which show case the pioneers on that historical event!

Chef Wan Craze In Wellington!

Media Release way back on 20 June 2011...

Malaysian night market comes to Wellington
There’s good news in store for Kiwis who know and love the bright lights, smells and excitement of the night markets so familiar throughout Asia.

Malaysia Kitchen is bringing New Zealand’s capital city its very own Malaysian night market
as part of this year’s Visa Wellington On a Plate festivities.

The special Malaysia Kitchen Night Market is taking place on Sunday 21 August in Opera
House Lane.

With free entry and dishes priced from $5, visitors can experience the best of authentic
Malaysian street food produced by some of Wellington’s best-loved Malaysian restaurants.

Photo Printed More Than A Million Time!

The highest circulated Malaysian English daily, The Star; is rushing to complete their 40th anniversary book on what us pioneers contributed to "The People's Paper".

This time round, photographers are being honored; about bloody time too!

The book, hopefully; will feature some of the BEST pictures that made The Star famous.

Among the thousands of pictures taken is a Decisive Moment shot that has been printed more than a MILLION times ;)

I am proud that yours truly took that picture!

1986, Pulau Tikus; Penang...

After a two year stint with The New Straits Times, I rejoined The Star; the second time.

I was covering the Malaysian general election in Penang, at the Pulau Tikus polling center I spotted this boy waiting for his mother to cast her vote.

There were two issues here, you spotted the boy; you realised it is a decisive moment; the next FIVE seconds will decide how FAST and how well PREPARED you are with your camera!

Within seconds the boy left, the moment was; decisive after all!

When Is It My Turn?